1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a resilient film biasing means which may be incorporated with surgical fastener applying apparatus or surgical fasteners.
2. Background of the Art
Various types of surgical fasteners and fastener applying apparatus are known in the art.
Surgical fasteners comprise unitary staples such as metal staples which are closed by crimping the legs; two-part fasteners, usually made of bioabsorbable polymer, which are closed by joining the interlocking fastener portion and retainer portion such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,960; and U-shaped or V-shaped surgical clips which are applied by bending the legs toward each other.
For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,116,349; 4,881,544; 4,881,545; 5,100,042; 4,508,253; 4,522,327; 4,568,009; 4,573,622; 4,665,916; 4,728,020; 4,354,628; 4,383,634; and 3,494,533, all of which are herein incorporated by reference, describe apparatus for simultaneously applying a plurality of metal staple type fasteners or two-part bioabsorbable fasteners.
Apparatus for sequentially applying metal staples or two-part polymeric fasteners are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,156,614; 4,955,959; 5,014,899; 4,520,817; 3,499,591; 3,490,675; and 3,079,606, all of which are herein incorporated by reference.
Clip applying apparatus are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,616,650; 4,624,254; 4,299,224; 4,412,539; and 4,242,902, all of which are herein incorporated by reference.
Fastener applying apparatus may be adapted for endoscopic/laparoscopic use, as exemplified in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,040,715; 5,084,057; and 5,100,420, all of which are herein incorporated by reference.
One problem associated with surgical operations is poor hemostasis, i.e. oozing of blood or other body fluid at the site of the operation during healing. Typically, oozing is controlled by optimizing the gap between the cartridge and anvil, the spacing between fasteners, and the size of the fasteners. In other words, the appropriate size instrument must be chosen for a particular application. However, it would be advantageous to maintain satisfactory hemostasis over a wider range of gap spacing and fastener size so that any particular size of 1506X instrument would be suitable for a wider variety of surgical applications.
Another problem is the formation of surgical adhesions, which are the undesirable joining of body tissue during the healing after a surgical procedure.
What is needed is a convenient way to overcome these problems.